Time and the Decca
by Lady Eivel
Summary: The Time War killed the Time Lords, the Doctor is sure of it. But he is wrong. Deep in the Eye of Harmony, in the heart of the TARDIS, the Master awakens... Set before Human Nature, noncompliant with Utopia, Sound of Drums and Last of the Time Lords.


**Time and the Decca**

Disclaimer: Despite repeated wishes and dreams, I don't own Doctor Who.

Summary: The Time War killed the Time Lords, the Doctor is sure of it. But what if there was one who escaped? One who could shield their mind, hide themselves… Maybe even two.

_Prologue_

The courtyard's high walls glistened in the daylight, light reflecting off the white stonework. Almost unoccupied, any human child would see this as the perfect place to play, hide and seek would be easily facilitated by the many sculptures and statues placed perfectly in position. Any human child would consider this a dream come true.

But no human child lived here. True, there were children on this planet- many of them too. But few lived here. Only the Decca, and the Decca did not play. The Decca were a group of the most promising young Time Children in history- their time was spent honing skills to perfection. Never would their tutors dream of letting them _play_.

Since when had that stopped Theta and Koschei?

"Can't catch me!" a voice rang out, bounding off the walls to give a joyous echo.

"Oh yes I can Koschei- you know I always do!" a second voice responded to its friend. Within seconds, a small boy dressed in black shot out of a door leading onto the courtyard, closely followed by another boy, who looked almost identical, unless you looked closely. If you had you would have seen that the first boy's eyes were black, the other boy's were a vivid blue. But you wouldn't have had much time to see- the twosome darted round the courtyard like lightening.

After several minutes of frantic play, the fun was spoilt by an adult coming into the courtyard, a stern look on their face. "Theta! Koschei! Come here this instant!" Knowing they were caught, the pair stepped forward, heads held high. The adult Time Lord sighed. "Why must you two never stay still? Why can't you be more like Ushas?" the boys scowled at the mention of Koschei's sister, who was held up as a model by the tutors of the Decca. Always absorbed in an experiment, she liked nothing better than to have a success, regardless of whether her tutors were told or not. She never looked for praise, just scientific work and treated everything else as inferior, even the others of her race.

"Speaking of Ushas, she tells me that you two interrupted one of her experiments yesterday. Care to explain?" the Time Lord held the unruly Time Children in his unfaltering gaze.

"It was my fault" Theta spoke up "It was mean of her to experiment on those mice- what've they ever done to her?"

"She was testing them on the basis of a genetic theory she has, to make them more energy efficient."

"Energy efficient? What's the point?" Koschei scoffed "Why mice anyway, they come from Earth and that's so technologically incompetent they call artificial light 'witchcraft'."

"Yeah, 'energy efficient' mice would probably drive them mad" Theta added

"For your information, Ushas is planning on keeping them on Gallifrey. The energy-efficiency plans, she believes, could be used on other creatures also, to solve food problems." Replied the adult sternly "And I want you boys to go and give her a full apology right now. And I will discuss this with the other tutors- you boys frequently engage conduct unbecoming of Time Lords and you bring shame on the Decca!" with that, the Time Lord turned on his heel and stalked off.

Theta and Koschei looked at each other for a moment and, shrugging, walked off to find Ursha.

It didn't take them long. Ushas was always bound to be in her laboratory- all the Decca knew that. After a brief, silent argument over who would knock (Ushas got mad when she was disturbed) Theta knocked hesitantly on the white door. Although Ushas was the same age as the Theta, and younger than Koschei, she could bevery scarywhen she wanted to be. "Yes?" a rather irritated voice sounded from inside the lab. The boys poked their heads round the door. Ushas was tinkering with some machinery "stupid DNA re-organizer… What're you doing in here?" she demanded, turning to the boys.

"Umm," Theta was, for once, at a loss for words "We were told to say sorry for yesterday, you know, the ball landing in your lab?"

"Yes, I do remember. And if you haven't anything more important to say, clear off! I'm _fixing_ the _damage _you caused and I need some peace and quiet to do it in!" Theta and Koschei scuttled off, relieved. However, they had barely gone round the corner before a 'BANG!' and a scream came from the lab. Koschei made to go on, but Theta dragged him back.

"Come on, Ushas might be in trouble!"

"Serves her right the little…" Koschei objected, but Theta pulled him back. "Alright, alright keep your hair on, I'm coming"Koschei grumbled as he followed his young friend.

As they went round the corner, they were shocked to see that the door to the laboratory had been blown right back. It was covered in scorch marks. Before they could recover from the shock, three giant mice came lumbering out of the doorway. They were so big, they knocked holes in the wall around it. The boys stood there, frozen to the spot, as the mice moved the other way down the corridor, filling it with their huge bulk. "Come on, Ushas is in there remember?" Theta rushed inside the lab.

Looking round, a soft moan came to his ears. He looked round to see Ushas sitting by the machine, clutching her arm. "Ushas, you ok?" he asked, concerned. The girl looked up at him.

"N-no. Wh-what did you th-think?" she sobbed "Th-the experim-ment's g-gone wrong!" Theta noticed a red patch on her arm.

"What happened to your arm?"

"The r-ray hit it, just g-grazed it." When Theta looked puzzled, she explained "The ray w-was designed to improve their molecular structure" now there was science involved, she was calming down "It hit the mice and, I don't know how, but they went huge…" she was cut off by distant screams.

"Oh no…" Theta sighed.

"They're heading for president's palace!" cried Koschei, who had been standing by the window all the time. Theta jumped up at this confirmation of his fears.

"Stay here!" he commanded Usshas. Koschei would follow him, he knew that from experience.

The boys pelted through the hallways and corridors until they reached the palace, where there was chaos. The mice had managed to knock the guards out and get through the doors, which had been torn down. It was even worse inside. People were screaming. Koschei reached for a gun.

"No! Not Rani! No!" The President shrieked. It seemed the mice were eating his cat. Theta and Koschei both grinned at the irony before Koschei pulled the trigger on his gun. The mice gave a horrible shriek before shrinking to their original size.

"Tissue Compression Eliminator. Wicked." Koschei smiled, looking down at the weapon in his hand "Always wanted one of these." Theta looked at his friend, horrified.

"That was cruel!"

"That stopped the mice!"

"It was unneccessary!"

"Well, I didn't see you do much to stop them!" Theta glared at him.

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"Ushas, I sentence you to exile from Gallifrey for what you have done. You will be escorted to the planet chosen for your exile and left there. Your Time Lord name may not be used. Instead, you will be called Rani so you will always be reminded of what happened" The President announced. It was the end of the trial, and Theta couldn't help feeling the sentence was a little harsh. "Do you have anything to say?"

"No."

"Good. Take her away!"

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As the TARDIS landed, Ushas turned to her guard and, with a gun she had constructed on the journey, killed him. The body was disposed of and Ushas smiled. Exile was turning out to be quite nice. Peace and quiet, lots of places to go for experiments and no Theta or Koschei to bother her!

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Back on Gallifrey, Koschei and Theta had vanished along with two TARDISes. Neither were seen back on Gallifrey for a long time.


End file.
